Scoliopus

Taxobox
name = "Scoliopus"


image_width = 240px
image_caption = Fetid Adder's Tongue
"Scoliopus bigelovii"
regnum = Plantae
divisio = Magnoliophyta
classis = Liliopsida
ordo = Liliales
familia = Liliaceae
genus = "Scoliopus"
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision = "Scoliopus bigelovii"
"Scoliopus hallii"

"Scoliopus", or Fetid Adder's Tongue, is a genus of plant within the Liliaceae family consisting of two species, "S. bigelovii" and "S. hallii." Both are found in deep shaded forests, primarily in the coastal counties of the western United States from central California to northern Oregon. The name "Scoliopus" derives from the Greek words "skolios" and "pous", meaning curved foot, a reference to the shape of the pedicel. [cite book | last = Quattrocchi | first = Umberto | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names | publisher = CRC Press | date = 2000 | location = | pages = | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = ] Taxonomists believe that Scoliopus is closely related to Calochortus, Prosartes, Streptopus and Tricyrtis, which all have creeping rhizomes as well as styles that divide at the tip. [cite book | last = Walter | first = S. | authorlink = | coauthors = Judd, et. al. | title = Plant Systematics: a Phylogenetic Approach | publisher = Sinauer Associates | date = 2008 | location = | pages = | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = ]

Description

Scoliopus has two mottled leaves at its base and a long pedicel that, over time, bends and twists so that the fruit touches the ground. The flowers, which bloom in the late winter and early spring, are pale green or yellow when fresh, lined with narrow purple or dark brown veins, with wide, spreading sepals and narrower petals, three stamens, and a three-angled ovary.cite book | last = Hickman (Ed.) | first = James C. | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = The Jepson Manual | publisher = University of California Press | date = 1993 | location = | pages = p.1203 | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = ] The flower's nectaries induce insects to enter and crawl around, with pollen generally deposited on the insect's back. [cite book | last = Kubitzki, ed. | first = K. | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants, Vol. 3 | publisher = Springer | date = 1998 | location = | pages = | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = ]

Botanist John Howell described "S. bigelovii" as thrusting "ill-scented flowers" from two tightly rolled leaves as soon as they sprout. By the time the leaves develop, "the first fruits are already well formed at the ends of elongate sprawling twisting pedicels". [cite book | last = Howell | first = John Thomas | authorlink = | coauthors = Frank Almeda, Wilma Follette, Catherine Best | title = Marin Flora | publisher = California Academy of Sciences; California Native Plant Society | date = 2007 | location = | pages = p. 184 | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = ]

pecies

Two characteristics separating the species are the shade of the flower and the regions where they grow. "S. bigelovii" flowers are greenish; "S. hallii" flowers are grayish-yellow. "S. bigelovii" grows in California from San Luis Obispo County to Humboldt County. "S. hallii" grows in Oregon, often along streams, on the western slopes of the Cascades and in the state's coastal mountains, ranging from near Oregon's southern border to Tillamook County. [cite book | last = Munz | first = Philip A. | authorlink = | coauthors = David D. Keck | title = A California Flora | publisher = University of California Press | date = 1959 | location = | pages = p.1355 | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = ] [cite book | last = Hitchcock | first = C. Leo | authorlink = | coauthors = Arthur Cronquist | title = Flora of the Pacific Northwest | publisher = University of Washington Press | date = 1973, revised 1976 | location = | pages = p.693 | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = ] [cite news | first= | last= | coauthors= | title=Calflora taxon report: Scoliopus bigelovii | date= | publisher= | url =http://www.calflora.org/cgi-bin/species_query.cgi?where-calrecnum=7416 | work = | pages = | accessdate = 2008-08-02 | language = ]

References